Germany's Tony Martin, twice a bronze medallist in the past two years behind Fabian Cancellara in the World Time Trial Championship, this afternoon outclassed the Swiss rider and the rest of a strong field on a thrilling afternoon's racing to win the rainbow jersey in a time of 53:43:85. A mistake by Cancellara as he overcooked a bend towards the end of the course and had to brake to avoid crashing into the barriers let Britain's Bradley Wiggins through to take silver, 1 minute 15 seconds down on the German.

Martin, who came to Copenhagen on the back of a season in which he had dominated the time trials he'd ridden in, with wins in Grenoble in both the Tour de France and the earlier Criterium du Dauphine, as well as Salamanca in the Vuelta a Espana at the start of this month, among others.

The penultimate man to start on the two lap, 46.4 kilometre course today, the 26-year-old German, nicknamed Der Panzerwagen, looked a class apart from the moment he rolled off the ramp, catching the man who had started a minute before him, last year's silver medallist David Millar, a little more than a third of the way through the parcours.

That Millar would himself finish a very creditable seventh only served to underline Martin's dominance, as the German emulated the success 24 hours earlier of his compatriot - and fellow member of the Highroad Sports set-up - Judith Arndt in clinching the time trial title that had previously eluded them.

Wiggins - who amid the confusion of the finish learnt that he had secured silver from his wife Cath after phoning her to find out what was going on - had started steadily on the flat course.

While he was only fifth fastest at the second split and fourth fastest at halfway, unlike some of his rivals, he was pacing himself perfectly, with his split time at the midpoint of the race of 27:30:43 exactly half his final time of 54:59:68.

The Team Sky man, third on the overall podium at the Vuelta earlier this month, appeared to be heading for a similar finish here as Cancellara went through the final intermediate time check nearly a minute down on Martin, but 17 seconds ahead of Wiggins.

However, while he managed to keep his bike upright after misjudging that corner, the mistake saw the colour of the four-time world champion's medal this year change from silver to bronze.

Earlier, there had been drama as French rider Laszlo Bodrogi approached the end of his first lap, several Danish police officers wrestling to the ground a rather burly man who had somehow made it onto the course.

Then, as the Belarus rider Vasili Kiryienka rolled down the starting ramp, the first man on the course from the final group of 16 riders that contained all the favourites, spots of rain were starting to come down.

A downpour had been predicted for late afternoon, whch would have made a lottery of the event and favoured the weaker riders who had gone off earlier. Happily, though, the rain held off, with the the thunder provided by Martin instead as he powered his way round the course and into the rainbow jersey.

Now I have to put my worried head on; 1:15 faster than Wiggins and Cancellara (effectively given a mistake close to the end but I suspect even if he'd not made it and been 2nd it would only have been a few seconds in front of Mr W).

Now we all know that TM has the class and not an out of the blue but gaps like that are like a red flashing light with a siren to me these days.

A very sad turn of events indeed. I really do hope that it is down to cycnisism on my part on nothing else.

Now I have to put my worried head on; 1:15 faster than Wiggins and Cancellara (effectively given a mistake close to the end but I suspect even if he'd not made it and been 2nd it would only have been a few seconds in front of Mr W).

Now we all know that TM has the class and not an out of the blue but gaps like that are like a red flashing light with a siren to me these days.

A very sad turn of events indeed. I really do hope that it is down to cycnisism on my part on nothing else.

Considering how sh*t hot HTC are on doping (Alex Rasmussen ring any bells?) and the fact Martin has been on form all year (he's beaten Fabs a number of times already) do you really think that he's doped to get this victory?! Christ, can you not just be happy for the guy?

I accept all your points and I am happy for the guy (and Brad, well done fella). It is just that the revellations of recent years have lead to my mindset questioning huge gaps like this. I really wish it was different. HTC have to be admired (sacking a rider weeks before the team wrap up shows their determination to stay focussed on doping to the end).

To me my reaction today shows just the sort of damage that the years of cheating have caused.

It's down to cynicism on your part. Result seems consistent and would put it down to a loss of form from Sparticus more than anything else. The gap to Wiggins is consistent with last few years I think. 5kph average more this year than in Geelong but that was a lumpier course. This years is pan flat. Brad did as well as he possibly could. How many other prospective Grand Tour GC riders could podium in the Vuelta and then Worlds TT? Well done Panzawagen!

How about this? What if the UCI paid people to screen and test the racers so that the fans, like us, really don't need to worry about it? It seems that a solution like that would allow me to enjoy watching cycling, and you and I wouldn't have to sit up all night worrying about whether the winners of races are using PEDs. And then, we wouldn't have to post stupid comments to forums doubting the cleanliness of racers' results when they win something.

WOW! That's really something that the UCI should look into implementing.

To be fair I have been "amazed" at Martin's results all season too. It was just this one that sparked my comment. I shall keep my (realistically given past few years)tarnished views to myself in the future.